[Pc_Support] ZDNet reviews the TiVO Series 3, with dual-CableCard HDTV tuners ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

Paul M Foster wrote:
> I've always wondered:

First off, before I get to your questions, let me state several things ...

1.  CableCard is a federally-mandated standard on terrestrial
providers so you can decode their QAM streams.  That means if you have
cable, they _must_ give you an option to use the open standard card,
so you can use your own receiver, DVR, etc... to decode their QAM
stream.    Right now only 1-way is standard (no pay-per-view and other
stuff yet), but it works for full tuning.

2.  CableCard is _not_ mandated on non-terrestrial providers -- e.g.,
satellite.  So DishNetwork and DirecTV are free to force you to buy
only their equipment, which only works on/with their QAM streams.
That's the real PITA -- you not only have to _buy_ the equipment, but
it _only_ works with their _specific_ networks and _nothing_ else
(maybe you get an ATSC tuner so you can get over-the-air, but that's
it).

3.  The up-front costs for HDTV are very high when you have to buy.  I
_almost_ forked out $700 for the (soon-to-be-useless?) Hughes DirecTV
HD DVR back in late 2004/early 2005.  I'm damn glad I didn't.  If I
want to go HDTV with BrightHouse, I pay $10/month for the HDTV, and
another $10/month to rent the HD DVR.  Now their HD DVR is not going
to be anything great, but I don't want it for a long-term store --
that's what I'm going to get the TiVO Series 3 for.

4.  DirecTV isn't that great of a buy for me, especially not for HDTV
with all those up-front costs.  If I'm going to buy, I want a box _I_
control the content on with an _open_ system into _any_ terrestrial
provider -- hence if TiVO makes good on the eSATA expansion.  I
already pay BrightHouse Networks $42.95/month for my Internet, so it's
not much more to go full HDTV.  And I'm also not out any up-front
costs, can rent their HD DVR until I see TiVO Series 3 add the eSATA
feature and drop to $500 in some promotion, etc...

> Does the DirecTV DVR (with service) compare with TiVO?

Some things to know about DirecTiVO ...

A.  DirecTV and TiVO split about 2 years ago.  At some point, it's
very possibly you won't be able to use older DirecTiVO equipment and
their smartcards (which is why I'm damn glad I didn't spend $700 on
that Hughes receiver -- they dropped to $300 more recently because of
this).  DirecTV has been pushing their DVR -- they are not TiVO, and
virtually no DVR is TiVO from all the ones I've used.

B.  The current DirecTiVO subscription (at least what I pay), is
_only_ $5/month.  That's a lot cheaper than the full TiVO subscription
of $13/month.  In fact, I think I got in on a promotion, because I
know other DirecTiVO users who pay $7-12/month (although I might be
mistaken).  In fact, the _only_ reason I bought the box was because it
was only $40 -- and I upgraded the Series 2 from the 40GB drive to a
2x120GB setup.

> We have a TiVO, and have been encouraged to go DirecTV because
> they've had HD for a while.

It's not worth the up-front costs IMHO.  You're playing for equipment
that _only_ works with their system.  That wasn't a problem when
receivers were under $50 (or free with installation), or DirecTiVOs
that were under $100.  But now you're taking a _$500_ investment!

An investment into a system that is _not_ federally mandated to be
open, unlike terrestrial providers and CableCard.

> But I've heard that the TiVO service (and TiVO software) features are far more
> comprehensive than what's offered by DirecTV. Do you know what the
> differences are?

I do not welcome the day when I finally switch back from DirecTV (and
my DirecTiVO) to BrightHouse Networks and their own DVR.  It's not the
same experience.  I've used several cable vendor DVRs (made/operated
by AT&T and others) as well as the newer DirecTV DVR.  And their HDTV
DVRs are typically single tuners -- or can't record more than one
program, even if they let you view another while recording (so you
_do_ lose the "pause/control" in real-time as it's _not_ recording
what you are watching).

Just not the same experience at all.  ;->

Which is why I'm going to boot DirecTV soon.  And I'm going to buy a
TiVO Series 3 shortly afterwards.  It all depends.  It's football
season and I'd like to have HDTV (although I'm not willing to pay for
Sunday Ticket anymore, the first year I haven't since I got it in 2003
-- if you want that, then you'll have to stick with DirecTV).  I'm on
the road until the beginning of next month, so if and when I come
home, I'm going to make the call and switch.